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PUPPIES AND KITTENS 


THE DOLLS’ DAY 

By CARINE CADBY 

With 29 Illustrations by WILL CADBY 

Daily Graphic . — “Wonderland through the 
camera. Mrs. Carine Cadby has had the charming 
idea of telling in ‘The Dolls’ Day’ exactly what a 
little girl who was very fond of dolls dreamed 
that her dolls did when they had a day off. Belinda 
the golden-haired, and Charles the chubby, and 
their baby doll disappeared from their cradles 
while their protectress Stella was dozing. They 
roamed through woods and pastures new; they 
nearly came to disaster with a strange cat; they 
found a friendly Brother Rabbit and a squirrel 
which showed them the way home. In short, they 
wandered through a child’s homely fairyland 
and came back safely to be put to bed at night. 
It is a pretty phantasy, but it is given an un- 
expected air of reality by the very clever photo- 
graphs with which Mr. Will Cadby points the 
moral and adorns the tale. ’’ 


E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY 


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Salome 





PUPPIES AND 
KITTENS 

And Other Stories 

BY 

CARINE CADBY 
1 ) 

Illustrated with 39 Photographs by 

WILL CADBY 

I 



NEW YORK 

E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY 

681 FIFTH AVENUE 


Copyright, 1920, 

By E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY 


All Rights Reserved 



FEB lU 1920 


©CI.A561804 

Printed in the United States of America 


s» ^ 


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CONTENTS 

TWO PUPPIES 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Tim . * 1 

II. The Puppies 6 

III. Timette and Ann .... 13 

IV. Dogs and their Sense of Smell 20 

V. The Adventure .... 29 

VI. The Lost Puppies .... 36 

VII. The Search Party ... 40 

VIII. Timette and Ann Fall Out 46 

IX. Training Dogs 52 

X. The Poet Dog 54 

SPIDERS AND THEIR WEBS 

I. Emma 63 

II. Emma’s Web 66 

III. A Narrow Escape .... 74 

IV. About Webs : . . . . 77 

V. The Little House-Spider . 83 

VI. Baby Spiders 89 

WHAT THE CHICKENS DID 

I. Joan and the Canaries ‘ . . 99 

II. The Worm 106 

III. Joan Saves a Chicken’s Life . 116 

vii 


CHAPTER 

CONTENTS 

PAGE 

IV. 

Thirsty Chickens . 

123 

V. 

The Fight 

126 

VI. 

Fluffy’s Recovery 

133 

VII. 

Hatching Out .... 

136 


THE PERSIAN KITTENS AND THEIR 
FRIENDS 


I. 

Tompkins and Minette 

145 

II. 

Two Thieves 

152 

III. 

Minette Finds the Kitchen 

156 

TV. 

The Kitchen Kittens 

161 

V. 

A Surprising Conversation . 

167 

VI. 

The Return Visit .... 

175 

VII. 

The Visitors’ Tea 

181 

VIII. 

Salome to the Rescue 

186 

IX. 

Misjudged Kittens 

189 

X. 

Salome Gives a Lecture 

196 


Vlll 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

Salome . , Frontispiece 

PAGE 

He would lean over the back of a chair . , . 3 

The Puppies , 7 

They slept and slept ....... . 11 

Timette and Ann . 15 

“Here you see us with Papa” ...... 21 

“All the happy livelong day 
We eat and sleep and laze and play” ... 27 

“Except when only one bone’s there 
And Sis takes care that I shan’t share” , . 31 

“What a pity you should be 
Such a greedy little she ” 37 

“This they say is not quite right, 

But who can keep still in the midst of a fight?” 43 
“We’re good dogs now and once more friends, ” 

And so my doggy story ends ...... 49 

She looked so wise and grave ....,, 55 

The spider in the web ........ 62 

A beautiful regular pattern ...... 67 

A fiy struggling in the web ...... 71 

A beautiful web .......... 79 

A snare 85 

ix 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Spiders love fine weather 91 

When anything alarming comes along 

They will all rush back to Mother Hen . . . 101 

A little tapping sound .103 

Dolly found a worm 107 

Cheeky dashing off with the prize .... 109 

Made them take some grain out of her hand . 113 

It is very funny to see chickens drink . . . 121 

They began to fight 127 

He fell over and lay quite still as if he were dead 131 
One had still a bit of shell sticking to his back . 139 

Salome 144 

The two kittens arched their backs .... 147 

Two little heads very busy with the saucer . . 153 

Tibby was much too busy to take any notice of a 

little kitten 157 

They had got hold of the waste-paper basket . 163 

Tried to take a photograph 171 

A perfect bunch of bad temper 173 

“ Hunt the thimble ” 177 

She pushed the jug over with her paw . . , 183 

Pussy pretended to be her daughter .... 191 

“You may look little angels, but you are nothing 

but little imps of mischief” . . . . ,. 193 

Sauntered grandly out of the room .... 197 


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PUPPIES AND KITTENS 







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TWO PUPPIES 


CHAPTER I 

TIM 

S OME dogs love being photographed 
and others simply hate it. We once 
had a dog called Tim who was determined 
to be in every photograph. It didn’t mat- 
ter what we were trying to take, Tim 
would do his best to push in. And the 
worst of it was that when you were busy 
with the camera you couldn’t be looking 
after Tim at the same time, and he would 
somehow manage to get into the picture. 
Perhaps he hadn’t got in quite far enough, 
in which case you would see only a bit of 
him, which was worst of all. 

So you may be sure we had no trouble 
with him if ever we wanted to pose him 
I 


PUPPIES AND KITTENS 


for a photograph. Tim was a proud dog 
then, and he would sit or stand any way 
we liked; the only bother was to keep his 
tail still, for being so pleased, he couldn’t 
resist wagging it. 

I believe you would have liked Tim be- 
cause, of course, you are fond of dogs, 
and he was an adorable dog. He was 
very sociable and hated being left out of 
anything, so that if two or three of us 
were chatting, Tim would jump on a chair 
and join the party. He would lean over 
the back, gazing so intelligently into our 
faces, that it really seemed as if he were 
talking, too. 

A dog’s love for his people is a curious 
and beautiful thing. Tim did not mind 
how uncomfortable he was as long as he 
could be near them. He had once been 
known to give up his dinner to follow 
them when they went for a walk. Per- 
haps he was not as hungry as usual that 
day. 

We had another dog with Tim called 
2 



He would lean over the back of a chair 



TWO PUPPIES 


Tess who hated the sight of a camera. 
We wanted to get a photograph of her and 
Tim sitting up together, but she was de- 
termined we shouldn’t. As soon as we 
had placed them in a good position and 
were ready to begin, that silly Tess would 
tumble on her back with her legs sticking 
up in the air, and how could you photo- 
graph a dog like that! We tried scolding 
her, but that only made matters worse, 
for she simply wouldn’t sit up at all, and 
as soon as we had dragged her on to her 
feet — flop, over she would go again! At 
last we had to give it up as a bad job. 

Tess had five jolly little puppies, three 
boys and two girls, and as soon as ever 
the pups could get on without their 
mother, she was sent away. She went to 
some kind people who never wanted to 
photograph their dogs and where she 
would get heaps and heaps to eat, for I 
must tell you, Tess was rather a greedy 
dog and not as faithful and affectionate 
as Tim. 


5 


CHAPTER II 


THE PUPPIES 

T im was very good to the puppies. 

Naturally, he didn’t trouble himself 
about them quite like a mother, but he 
was never snappy or disagreeable. Even 
when they played all over him and nibbled 
his ears he never growled like some father 
dogs might have done. 

One day we wanted to take a picture 
of the puppies sitting in a row, little think- 
ing the difficult job it was going to be. 
Of course, Tim kept sitting just in front 
of the camera, so before we began he had 
to be taken indoors. 

At first the puppies were all good ex- 
cept the two girls, Timette and Ann. 
They wouldn’t stay where they were put, 
but kept waddling away as if they had 
6 




i. 




TWO PUPPIES 

some very important business of their 
own. As soon as Ann was caught and 
put back, Timette would wander off, and 
when she was caught, Ann was off again 
and so it went on. It was lucky there 
were two of us, but we were both kept 
busy. Then the other puppies didn’t see 
why they shouldn’t have some fun and 
they began wandering away, too. There 
was only one thing to be done with the 
two naughty pups who had set such a bad 
example and that was to give them a 
whipping*. Of course, not a real one, for 
they were such babies they couldn’t un- 
derstand, but just a few mild pats to keep 
them still. You would have laughed to 
see their puzzled faces, for they were not 
sure what the pats meant and rather 
thought it was some new game. After 
this Ann was placed in the middle of the 
group, where she promptly went to sleep, 
and Timette was put at the end of the 
row, where she sat blinking as sleepily as 
9 


PUPPIES AND KITTENS 

you do when it is long past your bed- 
time. 

Timette and Ann had never been so 
tired in their short lives. First of all, the 
running away and always being brought 
back, then being made to sit in one place, 
and after that the new game of pats had 
been too much for the babies, and when 
it was over they slept and slept as if they 
never meant to wake up again. 

I wonder what they said to each other 
about it afterwards. I daresay the three 
other puppies laughed at them and prob- 
ably made believe they had understood all 
along that they were expected to sit still. 
When old Tim came out again they told 
him all about it. ‘‘We tried hard to get 
away,’’ said Timette, and Ann joined in, 
“We tried and tried over and over again, 
but each time we were brought back.” 
Then the other puppies explained about 
the pats. “I see,” said Tim, “now I un- 
derstand you have had your first whip- 
ping for disobedience; take care it is the 
last.” 


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4. 


CHAPTER III 


TIMETTE AND ANN 

W HEN the puppies grew a little 
older, people used to come and 
look at them, and soon the three boy pup- 
pies were sold and taken to new homes. 

Timette and Ann missed their brothers; 
it seemed funny to be such a small family 
and they did their best to entice old Tim 
to play with them. But he was too 
grown-up and dignified and rather slow 
in moving about, so it was not altogether 
a success. In the middle of a game he 
would prick up his ears and listen as if he 
heard some one calling him. And often 
he would trot ofif, pretending he was 
wanted elsewhere, just as an excuse to get 
away from the rough, romping pups. 
Timette was given her name because 

13 


TWO PUPPIES 


she was so like Tim, and Ann hers be- 
cause, as she was rather old-fashioned 
looking, it seemed to suit her. The pup- 
pies were very much alike, so only those 
who knew them well could tell them 
apart, but in character they were very 
different. Ann was gentle and timid, 
while Timette was a thorough tomboy, 
full of spirits and mischief and as bold as 
a lion. 

And now I am going to tell you about 
the first adventure they had. They lived 
in a garden that ran into a wood. It was 
rather difficult to see just where the gar- 
den ended and the wood began, for they 
were only separated by a wire. 

Now, Timette and Ann knew that they 
were not supposed to go out of the gar- 
den where they had plenty to amuse them : 
an india-rubber ball, a piece of wood that 
looked like a bone, and a bit of rag that 
did for playing 'Tug-of-war.’’ Ann 
never had the least wish to wander, for 
she was much too timid. But, as I said, 

14 



TIMETTE AND ANN. 

“Two little Airedale pups are we, 
Shaggy of coat and of gender ‘she.’ ” 





TWO PUPPIES 


Timette was different; she was simply 
longing to go into the wood and have 
some adventures. She kept talking to 
Ann about it, making most tempting sug- 
gestions and persuading her to go. 

‘'Look at old Tim,’’ she said; “he often 
takes a walk by himself, and he never 
comes to any harm.” 

“That’s all very well,” Ann answered; 
“he’s old, and he can take care of him- 
self.” 

“Well, and why can’t we take care of 
ourselves ?” 

“Because I believe there are wild ani- 
mals that would eat us up.” 

“Whatever makes you think that?” 
asked Timette, for she knew Ann had 
very sharp ears and keen scent; “do you 
smell or hear them?” 

“Both,” replied Ann, “only this morn- 
ing I smelt that some animal had been in 
the garden. I got on its track and fol- 
lowed it down to the cabbages and back 
to the wood again.” 

17 


PUPPIES AND KITTENS 


'T don’t think much of an animal who 
only goes after cabbages,” Timette inter- 
rupted. 

“There are others, too,” continued Ann, 
“I often hear very strange scratching 
noises like animals running up trees with 
terribly sharp claws,” and Ann gave a 
little shudder. 

“Well, what of it?” said Timette boldly. 
“I shouldn’t mind their claws as long as 
the animals weren’t bigger than I am.” 

“But they might run after us,” sug- 
gested Ann. 

“They wouldn’t run after me,” boasted 
Timette, “for I should be running after 
them!” 

“Would you really?” asked Ann, and 
she sighed, wishing she were as brave as 
her sister. 

“I should say so,” said Timette, “if 
only you would come, too, we might even 
catch one. Think what fun that would 
be.” 

i8 


TWO PUPPIES 


'‘It certainly would/’ replied Ann. 
"Oh, how I should love it!” 

"Well, come along,” urged Timette, 
and Ann came along, and that is how the 
adventure began. 


IQ 


CHAPTER IV 


DOGS AND THEIR SENSE OF SMELL 

T his conversation took place after 
the puppies had eaten their dinner 
and were supposed to be taking their 
afternoon nap. Tim was stretched out 
on the lawn in the sun, having a doze, and 
no one was about. The two puppies slunk 
off quietly into the wood and no one saw 
them go. 

The wood was very exciting; there 
were such strange smells about, and when 
the puppies put their noses to the ground 
they began to find out all sorts of animal 
secrets. And now, before we go any fur- 
ther with Timette and Ann into the 
wood, I must just tell you a little about 
dogs and their clever noses or you will be 
20 





ere you see us with Papa; 

hey sent away our dear Mamma. 



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TWO PUPPIES 


wondering why these puppies talked so 
much about smells. 

Hundreds of years ago, when there 
were no maps or books or papers, people 
could find out all kinds of wonderful 
things by their noses. Your nose now 
will tell you the difference between the 
smell of a violet and strawberry jam and 
other things, but when you know what a 
dog can discover by its sense of smell, 
you will see how feeble yours is. 

A dog will know who has been along 
the road by smelling the footsteps. Al- 
though it cannot read the way on a sign- 
post it can smell out the way to places 
and follow any one who has been along, 
even if it was some time ago. 

You wouldn't know if a friend had 
been to see you while you were out unless 
you were told, but a dog would know as 
soon as he came back; he wouldn't be 
obliged to ask, for he would know just 
who it was. If the friend had brought 
another little dog, too, your own dog 

23 


PUPPIES AND KITTENS 


would be so excited he would probably try 
to tell you all about it, and yet he was 
away when it happened. 

The road is as interesting to a dog as 
the most thrilling story book is to you. 
It may look just an empty road, but to 
a dog it has all sorts of messages that 
conjure up pictures. He knows, for in- 
stance, that another dog has traveled 
there and can tell what kind of dog it was. 
By and by his nose tells him this dog 
found a rabbit and caught it. Then he 
finds out a bigger dog came along and 
chased the first dog and got the rabbit. 
At least, did he get the rabbit? He is 
puzzled and sniffs hard round one spot. 
It is exciting news he is finding out and 
you can see his tail wagging with eager- 
ness. No, it seems, neither dog got the 
rabbit, for bunny was too sharp and be- 
tween the two managed to get away. If 
a dog can find out all this by his sense of 
smell you may guess he can easily track 
the rabbit to its hole, and there he sits 
24 


TWO PUPPIES 


probably waiting for it to come out and 
give him the chance of a little sport, too. 

Haven’t you often seen your dog stop 
suddenly when he is coming towards you 
and hold his head in the air? You must 
have wondered why he didn’t come 
straight on. He has probably had a mes- 
sage, a scent blown on the wind, which 
like a wireless, tells him a rat has just 
crossed the road and is somewhere in the 
hedge if he will only go and look. And 
so it goes on; there is not a dull moment 
in his walk. 

To a dog every one has his own par- 
ticular smell which never deceives him. 
If you dress yourself up you may puzzle 
your dog’s eyes for a little while. He 
may even bark at you as if you were a 
stranger, but once let him get near 
enough to smell you and it is all over. He 
will wag his tail and look up at you, as 
much as to say, ^‘Did you really think you 
could take me in?” So you can under- 
stand why dogs when out hate to be made 

25 


PUPPIES AND KITTENS 

to come to heel, as they miss all the fun 
of the walk, and have no chances to stop 
and read the interesting smells that tell 
them so much. 


26 



All the happy, livelong day, 

We eat and sleep and laze and play. 




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CHAPTER V 


THE ADVENTURE 

A nd now we must go back to Timette 
and Ann and their adventure. 

'‘The tree-climbing animal has been up 
here/’ cried Ann, sniffing at the bark of a 
tree. And when they looked up they saw 
a brown squirrel peeping at them from a 
branch. 

"Come down! come down! come down 
at once!” barked the puppies, but Mr. 
Squirrel was too wise for that. He knew 
that even with such baby dogs it wouldn’t 
be quite safe to trust himself on the 
ground. 

"I don’t call that playing fair,” Ann 
called out, jumping up at the tree and 
wishing she could climb it. But the squir- 
rel just sat tight. 


29 


PUPPIES AND KITTENS 


Presently Timette smelt an enticing 
smell and dived into some bushes, while 
Ann anxiously watched and waited. She 
could hear Timette working about and 
breathing hard. 

'‘Hi, hi, hi!'’ shrieked a big bird as it 
flew out. Timette dashed after it, but it 
rose in the air and left her looking very 
surprised. "Well, that was a sell!” she 
said. 

Ann meanwhile was busy with her nose 
on the ground. There were a number of 
insects crawling about; they had no smell 
to speak of, but they moved quickly, which 
was rather fun. Once she chased a big 
hairy buzzing thing. It settled on a bit 
of heather and she nearly caught it, but 
luckily not quite, for it was a bumble bee. 

Timette didn't care for the beetles; they 
were feeble sport for a dog, she thought, 
and putting her nose in the air she caught 
a most wonderful smell. She gave a short 
bark of delight and started running about 
to find it on the ground. Ann looked up 

30 



Except when only one bone’s there, 

And Sis takes care that I shan’t share. 





TWO PUPPIES 


and she too caught the message and was 
as busy as Timette. It was a most en- 
ticing scent: furry and alive and gamey 
so that it promised real sport. As soon 
as the puppies really got on to it, they put 
their noses to the ground and followed it 
up, their little stumpy tails wagging hard. 
Their instinct told them it was not an ani- 
mal that could hurt them, but one their 
mother and father and grandfathers and 
great-grandfathers had chased, so you 
can’t blame Timette and Ann for follow- 
ing up the scent of a rabbit. 

But although rabbits are often killed 
by dogs, they are not silly enough to allow 
themselves to be caught by two young, 
inexperienced puppies. The rabbit they 
chased was an old one who had his wits 
too much about him to be even very afraid. 
You will laugh when I tell you that he 
didn’t even trouble himself to hurry and 
just ambled along to a hole and popped 
down it. 

This hole had been the chief entrance 

33 


PUPPIES AND KITTENS 


to his burrow, and he and his big family 
had used it so often that it was worn quite 
wide and smooth. The artful old rabbit, 
however, only went a little way down it, 
then he turned to one side and went up 
another little passage and out into the 
wood and off again. 

The puppies came dashing along, giv- 
ing little short barks of delight at the 
sport. They followed the scent to the 
hole, and without stopping they plunged 
right into what looked to them like a dark 
tunnel. Of course, they were in much too 
great a hurry to notice the little passage 
where the old rabbit had turned aside, and 
just pushed on as hard as they could. The 
tunnel wound downhill and grew nar- 
rower and narrower as they went on. 
Timette was leading and she called back 
to Ann, “Can you smell anything? I have 
lost the scent.’’ 

“So have I,” Ann answered, and then 
as she was feeling nervous in the dark, 
she added, “Let’s go back.” 

34 


TWO PUPPIES 


‘‘No, it’s all right!” cried Timette, “we 
had better go on, I can see daylight and 
smell the open air.” 

This was a good thing, for the fat pup- 
pies would have found it very difficult to 
turn round in such a small space. At the 
end the hole grew so narrow that Timette 
had to squeeze to get through, and when 
Ann crawled out, some of the roof fell in 
and there was no more hole to be seen. 


35 


CHAPTER VI 


THE LOST PUPPIES 

T he puppies found themselves in a 
hole in two senses of the word. It 
wasn’t a nice hole either, but a deep one, 
cold and damp, too, and with no enticing 
smells. It had once been the home of a 
lot of rabbits, but it had all been dug up, 
and the only smell about it now was that 
of a cold dull spade. 

^T want to go home,” whimpered Ann. 
“So do I, Cry-baby,” said Timette, 
“but we shall have to climb out of here 
first.” 

Then they both stood on their hind legs 
and stretched up the sides of the hole, and 
when this was no good they gave little 
feeble jumps. A child would have man- 
aged to scramble out somehow, and kit- 

36 





What a pity you should be 
Such a greedy little she!” 



TWO PUPPIES 


tens could have reached the top in a twink- 
ling; but puppies are so clumsy and help- 
less, and poor Timette and Ann’s strug- 
gles were all in vain. They only fell on 
their backs, and at last got so hurt and 
tired they gave it up. It was their tea- 
time, too, and they were feeling hungry 
as well as unhappy, and you know how 
bad that is. 

Ann cried, ''Oh, I do want my bread 
and milk! Pm so hungry. Oh! oh! oh!” 
And Timette began crying, too, "We’re 
lost, we’re lost! Oh, do come and find 
us!” and then they both howled as loudly 
as ever they could, "Help, help, help!” 
But no one came and all was quiet. 

Poor puppies ! how miserable and lonely 
they felt! It did seem hard that no one 
should trouble about them, and when they 
couldn’t cry any longer they curled them- 
selves up as close as they could to each 
other and went to sleep. They were like 
the lost "Babes in the Wood.” 


39 


CHAPTER VII 


THE SEARCH PARTY 

ND now I want to tell you what was 



-/jL happening at home. A little girl 
called Ruth, who was very fond of the 
puppies, came to see them on her way 
home from a party. She loved playing 
with them, and the first thing she said 
when she ran in was, ‘T am just going to 
say good-night to Timette and Ann,” and 
was off into the garden to find them. 

But, alas ! there were no puppies to be 
found. There was the india-rubber ball 
and the stick and the bit of rag, all look- 
ing very lonely, but no sign of the puppies. 
Ruth was very puzzled. “What have you 
done with them?” she asked Tim, who 
was sitting up looking rather worried. 
He gave his tail a flop and his brown hu- 


TWO PUPPIES 


man eyes seemed to say, ^Tt really wasn’t 
my fault; they ran away without asking 
me.” 

Ruth felt sure they couldn’t be so very 
far off, as they were too babyish to be 
able to stray a great distance, and that 
with Tim’s help she would be able to find 
them. She ran back to tell us the news 
and that she and Tim were going out as 
a search party to look for the lost ones. 

‘'Don’t be long,” we called after her, 
“remember your bedtime.” 

“As if I could go to bed while the 
darlings are lost !” we heard her say. 

We watched them go into the wood, 
Tim barking round Ruth most excitedly. 
He seemed to know there was serious 
business on hand, for instead of dashing 
off to chase rabbits, he kept near her and 
often put his nose to the ground. “We’ve 
got to find those puppies,” Ruth told him. 
Soon he gave a sharp bark and ran ahead 
of her, looking round and saying as plain- 
ly as he could, “You just follow me.” 

41 


PUPPIES AND KITTENS 


Ruth understood dogs as well as she loved 
them, and she trusted Tim and followed 
where he led. 

In a few minutes they had reached the 
hole. The puppies woke up to see Ruth 
and Tim standing looking down on them. 
Oh, what a noise they made ! I can’t tell 
you how delighted they were. It seemed 
like waking up from a bad dream. You 
couldn’t have heard yourself speak, for 
there was Tim barking, Ruth calling them 
all the pet names she could think of, and 
the puppies themselves simply shrieking 
with joy. Ruth soon jumped down into 
the hole, and when we came up there she 
was hugging the puppies who were cover- 
ing her face with their wet sticky kisses, 
giving little sobbing cries as if they 
wanted to tell her over and over again 
how glad they were to be found, and to 
thank her for getting them out of the 
nasty hole. Ruth carried them home in 
her arms, talking to them all the way, 
while Tim stalked along by her side with 
42 



This they say is not quite right; 

But who can keep still in the midst of a fight? 






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I 



♦ 


If 



TWO PUPPIES 


a proud and injured air that plainly said, 
“Well, after all, it was really I who found 
them and I think you might make a little 
more fuss with me.’’ 


45 


CHAPTER VIII 


TIMETTE AND ANN FALL OUT 

P uppies don’t have meat to eat; 

they don’t really need it till they are 
grown up. However, sometimes as a 
great treat, Timette and Ann would be 
given a bone. They always had one each, 
because being rather jealous dogs they 
might have quarreled over one. Tim, too, 
always had a bone to himself. One day 
the cook threw Tim a bone, but he had 
gone off for a saunter in the wood, and 
the puppies rushed to get the prize. Tim- 
ette was first and, with a bound, was on 
top of it. But she had jumped just too 
far and Ann quickly dived in and snatched 
it from under her. Poor Timette! her 
baby face looked so disaopointed. ‘Well, 
46 


TWO PUPPIES 


you are a greedy pig/’ she said; ‘^you 
might let me have a bit.” 

''Go away,” said Ann, and she went on 
calmly nibbling. 

Then Timette made a dash for it, but 
Ann was prepared and wheeled round, the 
bone safely in her mouth. Timette tried 
again, but Ann was too artful; she just 
held on to the bone with her paws as well 
as her teeth and gave a little growl when 
Timette came too near. 

At last Timette’s patience gave way, 
and with an angry cry she hurled herself 
at Ann. Ann at once turned on her and 
bit her ear, and then they got muddled 
up, both trying to bite as hard as they 
could. The bone was forgotten, for both 
puppies were in a rage. They fought al- 
most savagely like big dogs and neither 
would give in. They made such a noise 
about it, too, that we came out to see 
what was the matter, and as they wouldn’t 
stop, we had to separate them. In the end 
Ann got rather the worst of it, which 
47 


PUPPIES AND KITTENS 


served her right for being so greedy over 
the bone. She was not much hurt, though, 
for Timette had only her puppy teeth, and 
they can’t bite really hard, although they 
are very sharp. 

When it was over, they were both 
rather sulky and gave each other long 
scowling looks. Timette took the bone 
and kept it all the afternoon. Ann looked 
the other way, pretending she no longer 
wanted it. In the end we took it away 
altogether, and after that they were quite 
good friends again, ate their evening 
bread and milk in peace and went to sleep 
curled up together. 


48 



And so my doggy story ends. 



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CHAPTER IX 


TRAINING DOGS 

D ogs are very like children who 
never grow up. But a child would 
have to have a very loving heart to be as 
fond of any one as a dog. A dog is so 
faithful, too; he never tires of people or 
thinks them wrong or unfair, and he is 
just as devoted and obedient to them how- 
ever old he gets. He is always trying to 
please them and is miserable and unhappy 
when he fails. That is why it is so easy 
to train a dog ; you only have to make him 
understand what you want and he will try 
and do it. If dogs could understand all 
our language, you would only have to say 
to your dog, ^‘Don’t walk on the flower- 
beds,’’ or '^don’t take anything off the 
table,” or ''don’t bark when we want to 

51 


PUPPIES AND KITTENS 


go to sleep/’ and he would obey you. 
This doesn’t mean that dogs are never 
naughty; I know they are sometimes, but 
before you punish a dog you should be 
quite sure he understands what it is for. 
If he is an intelligent dog, a scolding will 
often do as well as a whipping. Tim only 
had a whipping once in his life, and yet 
he was a very well trained dog. He was 
taught not to go across the beds in the 
garden by being called off and made to go 
round, and he never stole after he had 
taken one piece of cake. 

I must tell you about that. It was really 
not quite his fault, for it was on a very 
low table, and being rather new I expect 
it smelt extra tempting. He was made to 
feel horribly ashamed. Ever afterwards 
the cake plate was shown him with re- 
proachful remarks, such as ^'Oh, Tim, 
how could you! Oh, fie, what a wicked 
thief!” till he would turn his head away 
as if he hated the sight of the stupid old 
cake and wished we would stop teasing 
52 


TWO PUPPIES 


him. After this he could be trusted never 
to take anything however near the ground 
it was, and no matter how long he was 
left alone with it. 

One day the tea had been taken into the 
garden. Tim, of course, could be trusted, 
but the puppies had been forgotten. 
When he came out there was Tim sitting 
up with a very dejected look, and the two 
naughty puppies busy with the bread-and- 
butter, some crumbs on their shaggy 
mouths being all that was left of the 
cake! 

‘‘Did they get a whipping?’' you ask. 

Well, when we found all our nice cake 
gone we did feel inclined to give them 
some pats, but then they were too much 
of babies to understand, so they had a 
shaking and a scolding and were shut up 
for the rest of the afternoon. Tim soon 
got more cheery when we petted him up 
and told him it wasn’t his fault. 


53 


CHAPTER X 


THE POET DOG 

W HEN Ann grew up she was given 
to Ruth as a birthday present ; or 
to be quite truthful, she gave herself, for 
she was so fond of Ruth that she followed 
her about everywhere, and would stay 
with no one else. 

She was a very sedate and serious ani- 
mal; she might almost have been an old 
lady dog. You would have thought by 
the look of her she was wrapped in deep 
thought and that if only she could have 
spoken it would have been about very 
clever things. 

Ruth would have it she was making up 
poetry. The fact was Ruth was making 
up poetry herself, and when we are think- 
ing hard of any subject we are inclined to 
54 



She looked so wise and grave. 



TWO PUPPIES 


imagine other people are, too. Just now 
Ruth was busy making verses and rhymes 
and thought Ann must be doing the same. 

Ruth was rather shy over her poetry; 
she hadn't told any one about it, she was 
too afraid they might laugh at her. And 
yet she badly wanted to know what they 
would think of it. 

One day she sat Ann up in a chair at 
a table with pen and ink and paper in 
front of her. She looked so wise and 
grave that you could quite well imagine 
her a poet. And when Ruth called us in 
to look at her, there sure enough were 
some verses written. 

''Look what Ann has made up," cried 
Ruth. "I told you she was thinking of 
poetry." 

"How wonderful !" we said, for we saw 
whose writing it was. "Clever Ann ! who 
will read it out?" 

"I think Ann would like me to," replied 
Ruth, who was glad to get this chance to 
read her own verses, "the poem is sup- 
57 


PUPPIES AND KITTENS 


posed to be about Ann’s young days when 
she and Timette were puppies.” 

‘‘How very interesting,” we remarked. 
“Now I’ll begin,” said Ruth, with 
rather a red face, “it is supposed to be 
Timette speaking.” 

“But why Timette?” we asked. “Why 
isn’t it Ann herself speaking?” 

“Because she is a poet,” Ruth ex- 
plained, and poets always have to pretend 
to be some one else.” 

Then she read these verses: — 

“Two little Airedale pups are we, 

Shaggy of coat and of gender ‘she.* 

“Here you see us with papa, 

They sent away our dear mamma. 

“All the happy livelong day 
We eat and sleep and laze and play. 

“Except when only one bone’s there 
And Sis takes care that I shan’t share. 

“What a pity you should be 
Such a greedy little she ! 

58 


TWO PUPPIES 


“This they say is not quite right, 

But who can keep still in the midst of a fight? 

“We’re good dogs now and once more friends, 
And so my doggy story ends.” 


59 




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The Spider in the Web. 


SPIDERS AND THEIR WEBS 


CHAPTER I 

EMMA 

S PIDERS!’’ you say. '‘Ugh! what 
dreadful things. I don’t want to 
read about them.” But surely any one 
as big as you are need not be afraid of a 
poor little spider. Don’t you remember 
when "there came a big spider and sat 
down beside her” it was little Miss Mof- 
fat that was frightened away, and I don’t 
suppose she was much more than a baby. 

You are quite a big boy or girl or you 
wouldn’t be able to read this, and spiders 
are really so clever and interesting that 
I believe you will enjoy hearing a little 
about them. Let us look at the picture of 
the spider in the web and pretend it is a 

63 


PUPPIES AND KITTENS 


real one; and shall we give it a name? I 
don’t believe Miss Moffat would have 
been frightened if she had known a little 
more about it, or if it had a name, so we 
will call this little spider '‘Emma.” 

Emma is a girl spider and she will grow 
up ever so much bigger than any boy 
spider. It is rather topsy-turvy in the 
spider world, for the she-spiders are not 
only bigger but much stronger and fiercer 
than the little he-spiders, and they are 
quarrelsome, too, and love a fight. This 
need not make you think Emma is going 
to be savage with you ; she would be much 
too afraid, for you are a big giant to her. 
It is only with other spiders and insects 
her own size she will fight. 

When Emma was younger she was a 
light green color, but as she gets older she 
grows darker and darker and different 
markings come out on her back. As you 
grow, your clothes get too small for you 
and you have to have new ones or a tuck 
is let down. This is the same with Emma, 
64 


SPIDERS AND THEIR WEBS 

only, as her coat happens to be her skin 
as well, it is no good thinking about a 
tuck. I don’t know how many new frocks 
you have, but Emma has changed hers 
seven times before she was grown up. 

If you look closely at a real spider you 
will see it has hairs on its body and on its 
legs. Emma, too, has these same fine 
hairs which are very important. She can 
neither see nor hear very well, so these 
hairs, which are sensitive, can warn her 
of danger. They feel the least trembling 
of the web and are even conscious of 
sound, so you see how useful they are. 

The spider is rather a lonely person and 
not at all sociable. Perhaps this is be- 
cause she has to work so hard for a living. 
In fact, all her time, day and night, seems 
taken up either with making or repairing 
the web, and lying in wait, when she dozes 
far back in her little shelter out of sight, 
with one hand always on the tell-tale cord 
that connects with the web and lets her 
know of its slightest movement. 

6s 


CHAPTER II 


Emma’s web 

A nd now I am afraid you are finding 
this rather dry, and if I don’t tell 
you a story you will be frightened away 
like Miss Moffat. 

One day Emma felt very hungry; her 
larder was quite empty and she had been 
without food for nearly a week. It was a 
fine evening, with just a gentle little wind 
blowing, so she thought she would try a 
new place for her web, where it would 
have a better chance of catching some- 
thing. She climbed up fairly high and 
then let herself drop with all her legs 
stretched out, spinning all the time the 
thread by which she was hanging. Then 
she climbed up it, spinning another thread, 
and when she had like this spun some nice 
66 



A beautiful, regular pattern. 





SPIDERS AND THEIR WEBS 

strong sticky threads she waited for the 
wind to carry them on to some branches 
of furze. When these held, Emma ran 
along them, fastened them firmly and 
spun a fresh thread each time till she 
made a line that was strong and elastic, 
and so not likely to break easily. When 
she was satisfied it would bear the weight 
of the web, she spun struts from it to hold 
it firm and then began the web itself. She 
first made a kind of outline and then spun 
and worked towards the middle. It was 
wonderful to see what a beautiful regular 
pattern she was spinning, with nothing 
but her instinct to guide her. 

You know when a house is being built 
it has tall poles all round it called scafifold- 
ing, which helps the building; well, the 
first outline of the web was Emma’s scaf- 
folding, and when it was no longer want- 
ed she got rid of it by eating it up ! 

"‘But how did Emma spin a thread?” 
I can hear you asking. 

It is like this — suppose you had a ball 

69 


PUPPIES AND KITTENS 


of silk in your pocket and ran about twist- 
ing it round trees to make a big net. This 
is really what the spider does, but the silk 
comes from inside her and will never come 
to an end like the ball in your pocket. It 
issues from what are called spinnerets. 
When she lets herself drop, the spinnerets 
regulate the thread, but when she is run- 
ning along spinning she uses two of her 
back legs to pay it out, just as you would 
have to use your hands to pull the silk out 
of your pocket. It is a pity spiders usually 
spin their webs at night, so that we sel- 
dom get a chance of watching them. 

I said just now that Emma's silk never 
comes to an end, but sometimes if a very 
big fly or wasp gets caught in her net she 
has to use a great deal of her silk, which 
she winds round and round the fly, bind- 
ing him hand and foot, and then her stock 
of thread which is carried inside her may 
run low; but it soon comes again, espe- 
cially if she gets a good meal and a nice 
long rest. 


70 



A fly struggling in her web. 






SPIDERS AND THEIR WEBS 


When Emma had finished she was 
pleased with the look of her web and hid 
herself at the side of it under a furze 
branch. She watched and waited. She 
waited all night long and nothing hap- 
pened. 


73 


CHAPTER III 


A NARROW ESCAPE 

I N the morning she was still watching 
and waiting, but at last there was a 
sound. A deep humming was heard in 
the air as if a fairy aeroplane were pass- 
ing. It was so loud that even deaf Emma 
might have heard it if she had not been 
too busy. Just then, however, her hairs 
had received a wireless message to say 
there was a catch at the far end of her 
web. Although a spider is much more pa- 
tient than you, and can sit still a long 
time, it is a quick mover when there is 
need for speed. Emma darted out like a 
flash of lightning and found a fly strug- 
gling in her web. It was a very small thin 
one, and poor hungry Emma was dis- 
appointed not to see a larger joint for her 
74 


SPIDERS AND THEIR WEBS 


larder. She quickly settled it, however, 
and spun some web round it to wrap it up, 
for, after all, it was something to eat and 
so worth taking care of. She was still 
busy with her parcel when ‘'Buzz, buzz, 
buzz,'' the whole web gave a big jump and 
there quite close to Emma was a huge, ter- 
rible beast. A great angry yellow wasp, 
making frightful growling noises and 
struggling desperately to get out of the 
web. Poor Emma wasn't very old or dar- 
ing and she knew the danger she was in, 
for this savage monster could kill her 
easily with his sting. He was fighting 
hard against the sticky meshes of the web 
and jerking himself nearer to her. She 
was too frightened to move, and for a 
minute she hung on to her web limp and 
motionless looking like a poor little dead 
spider. Then something happened. The 
wind blew a little pufif, the wasp put out 
all his strength and gave a twist, the web 
already torn broke into a big hole and the 
great yellow beast was free. He glared 


PUPPIES AND KITTENS 


at Emma and hovered over her, buzzing 
furiously. He would have liked to kill 
her, but luckily he was too afraid of get- 
ting tangled up again in that sticky, cling- 
ing web, so, grumbling loudly, he flew 
away. 

''What did Emma do?'’ 

Well, she quickly got over her fright 
and I think she had a little lunch ofif her 
lean fly; then she looked at her web and 
was sorry to see it so torn and spoilt. 
The best thing to do was to mend it then 
and there, and as a spider always has 
more silk in her pocket, so to speak, she 
was able to do it at once. She repaired 
it so well that it didn't look a bit as if it 
had been patched but just as if the new 
piece had always been there, the pattern 
was just as perfect. 


76 


CHAPTER IV 


ABOUT WEBS 

1 DON’T believe you are feeling a bit 
afraid of spiders now, are you? 
There is no reason why we should fear 
them, for they don’t bite or sting us ; and 
if they did the poison that paralyses 
and kills their prey would not hurt us. 
Besides, they kill the insects that harm 
us. I saw a spider’s web once full of 
mosquitoes, and you know what worry- 
ing little pests they are. I was glad to 
see so many caught, but sorry for the 
spider, as they didn’t look a very sub- 
stantial meal. Then you know how dan- 
gerous flies have been found to be, mak- 
ing people ill by poisoning their food, so 
it is a good thing that spiders help us to 
get rid of them. 


77 


PUPPIES AND KITTENS 


Another reason to like spiders is for 
their webs. There is no animal or insect 
that makes anything quite so wonderful 
and beautiful as what these little crea- 
tures spin. 

The spider’s web is really a snare for 
catching her food. The strands of it are 
so fine as often to be invisible in some 
lights even in the daytime, and of course 
quite invisible at night. Sometimes the 
beetle or flying insect is so strong that 
he can tear the web and get free, but not 
often, for the spider can do wonders with 
her thread. She spins ropes and throws 
them at her big prey and doesn’t go near 
it till it is bound and helpless. 

Of course, there are many dififerent 
kinds of spiders who spin different kinds 
of webs. In a hotter country than this 
there is one that is as big or rather big- 
ger than your hand, and another called 
the Tarantula whose bite is supposed to 
be so poisonous that it can kill people, 
but this is very exaggerated. 

78 



A Beautiful Web 








SPIDERS AND THEIR WEBS 

As the spider’s web is only her snare, 
she naturally has to have some kind of 
home, which must be quite near to her 
place of business. If you look very close 
and follow one of the strands of the web 
you will find some little dark cranny 
where the huntress can hide. If the 
web is amongst trees it will probably be 
a leaf she has pulled together with her 
thread and made into a dark little tunnel 
out of which she darts when something 
is caught. 

Now before we leave the spiders’ webs 
you may wonder why you never see them 
so clearly as they show in the photo- 
graphs, and I will tell you the reason. 
You see if the spiders’ nets which are set 
to catch sharp-eyed insects were always 
to show as clearly as they do in the pic- 
tures, I am afraid they would really 
starve, for no fly would be silly enough to 
go into such a bright trap. But some- 
times in the autumn, very early in the 
morning, the dew hangs in tiny beads on 
8i 


PUPPIES AND KITTENS 


the webs, and makes them show up clear- 
ly, and then it is that the photographs 
are taken. If you get up early some still 
September morning, just about the same 
time as the sun, and go for a walk in a 
wood, or even along a country road, you 
may see the webs with what look like 
strings of the tiniest pearls on them, and 
you will find that until the sun has dried 
up all the little wet pearls, which are of 
course dewdrops, the poor spider has not 
a ghost of a chance of catching anything. 

But to return to the spider herself. 
The one you know best is probably the 
house-spider. It has eight legs and a 
body rather the shape of a fat egg, with 
a little round bead of a head. It runs 
up the walls, sometimes hanging by a 
thread from the ceiling, and seems very 
fond of the corners of the room. How 
glad these house-spiders must be when 
they get to a dirty untidy house, where 
they will be safe from the broom. Most 
of us hate to see cobwebs in our houses, 
and get rid of them as quickly as we can. 

82 


CHAPTER V 


THE LITTLE HOUSE-SPIDER 

I WILL tell you about a little house- 
spider who had a very exciting 
adventure. She had made a beautiful 
web in the corner of a bedroom, high up 
near the ceiling. One day her sensitive 
hairs told her there was some sort of 
disturbance in the room, and looking 
down from her web she saw all the furni- 
ture being moved out. The curtains and 
rugs had gone and the bed was pushed 
up into a corner. Then, to her dismay, 
a huge hairy monster came rushing up the 
wall. Of course, it was only a broom, 
but the poor little spider was so terrified 
she thought it was alive. It came nearer 
and nearer, and all at once there was a 
terrific rush and swish right up the wall 

83 


PUPPIES AND KITTENS 


where she lived, and web and spider 
disappeared. It was very alarming, but 
you will be glad to hear that the little 
spider was not killed but only stunned; 
and as soon as she came to her senses, 
she found herself right in the middle of 
the broom. She hung on and kept quite 
still, and soon the servants went into 
the kitchen to have some lunch and the 
broom was stood up against the wall. 

Now was the little spider’s chance to 
escape, and out she popped. The coast 
seemed clear, so she scuttled up the wall 
and rested on the top of the door. 
Spider’s haven’t good sight, so she 
couldn’t see much of the kitchen, but what 
she did see looked nice, and she thought it 
a much more interesting place than a bed- 
room, besides there were some flies about, 
so she determined to spin another web. 
No sooner had she begun when there was 
a crash like an earthquake. '‘Will hor- 
rors never cease?” thought the spider. It 
was really only the slamming of the door, 

84 



A Snare 










SPIDERS AND THEIR WEBS 

but it so startled her that she fell and 
dropped on to the shoulder of some one 
who had just come in. 

''Oh, Miss Molly!’’ cried cook, "you’ve 
got a spider on you, let me kill it.” 

"No, no,” said Molly, "that would be 
unlucky, besides it’s only a tiny one,” and 
she took hold of the thread from which 
the spider hung and put it out of doors. 
Wasn’t that a lucky escape? She ran up 
the wall and got on to a window sill. Here 
she crouched down into a corner making 
herself as small as she could for fear of 
being seen, and then she fell asleep. You 
see she had gone through a great deal 
that morning, and the excitement had 
thoroughly tired her out. 

When evening came she woke up and 
felt very hungry, so she quickly spun a 
web, and would you believe it, before it 
was even finished she felt a quiver, and 
there was a silly little gnat caught right 
in the middle. He was very tiny, but the 

87 


PUPPIES AND KITTENS 


spider wasn’t big, and he made a very 
good meal for her. She didn’t stop even 
to wrap him up, for she couldn’t wait, but 
gobbled him up on the spot. 


88 


CHAPTER VI 


BABY SPIDERS 

B efore a spider lays her eggs, she 
spins some web on the ground. 
She goes over it again and again, spinning 
all the time, till it looks like a piece of 
gauze. Into this she lays her eggs — often 
over a hundred — and covers them with 
more web and then wraps them up into 
a round ball. I don’t suppose you would 
think it, but a spider is a very devoted 
mother, and this white ball is so precious 
to her that she carries it everywhere she 
goes and never lets it out of her sight. 
She will hold it for hours in the sun to 
help to hatch the eggs, and she would fight 
anything that tried to hurt it or take it 
away from her. 

It is the same when the eggs are 

89 


PUPPIES AND KITTENS 


hatched out, for her babies are always 
with her. Their home is on her back, and 
as there is such a swarm of them, they 
cover her right up and you often can’t see 
the spider for the young. Often some of 
them drop off, but they are active little 
things and they soon climb on again. As 
long as they live with their mother they 
have nothing to eat. This fasting, how- 
ever, doesn’t seem to hurt them for they 
are very lively ; the only thing is they don’t 
grow. 

It doesn’t seem to matter very much 
even to grown-up spiders to go without 
their dinners for several days. And when 
they do at last get some food they gorge. 
They eat and eat and eat, and instead of 
making themselves ill like you would do, 
they seem to feel very comfortable and 
are able to go hungry again for some time. 
Perhaps it is because, as babies, they got 
used to doing without food. 

Spiders love fine weather, and they 
seem to know when to expect the sun to 
90 



Spiders love fine weather 







L> 


SPIDERS AND THEIR WEBS 

shine. When it is a bright day Mother 
Spider brings out her big little family. It 
is no good offering them any food, for 
they can’t eat it yet, so she finds a shel- 
tered hot place and gives them a thorough 
sun bath, which they like better than any- 
thing else. 

And now one more little story before 
we say ^'Good-by” to spiders. When 
Emma was a tiny baby she had thirty- 
nine brothers and sisters. And as she 
was just a tiny bit smaller than the others, 
she was very badly treated. The stronger 
ones would be very rough and cruel to 
her. They used to walk over her and push 
her near the edge where she would be 
likely to fall off. Two or three times they 
had crowded her so that she really had 
slipped off and lay sprawling on the 
ground. However, she was very nimble 
and agile, and she had always been able 
to pick herself up quickly and clamber 
up one of her mother’s legs on to her back 
again. 


93 


PUPPIES AND KITTENS 


One day the little spiders were more 
spiteful than usual. ''You are a disgrace 
to us/^ they told Emma, "you might be 
a silly ant.’’ 

"I’m no more an ant than you,” said 
Emma, "I can’t help being small.” 

"Ant, ant, ant!” they cried, "ants be- 
long on the ground and that’s your 
proper place,” and pushed her off on to 
the ground. 

The unlucky part was that Emma’s 
mother didn’t know what had happened, 
and before Emma could struggle to her 
feet, she had hurried away having no- 
ticed a bird hovering near. There was 
Emma all alone, a poor lost little spider 
without a mother or a home. 

She was feeling very sad and wonder- 
ing what would become of her, when 
along came another Mother Spider with 
a lot of babies on her back. Two of 
these fell off quite near to Emma, and 
when they ran back to their mother she 
ran with them. Up an unknown leg she 
94 


SPIDERS AND THEIR WEBS 

climbed and on to a strange back, and 
yet she felt quite as happy and at home 
as if it had been her own mother and 
the companions she joined had been her 
real brothers and sisters. How different 
spiders are from us! Emma’s mother 
never knew she had lost a baby, and the 
new mother didn’t bother herself at . all 
that she had adopted one, and as for the 
strange brothers and sisters, they treated 
her rather better than her own, for they 
happened to be just a little smaller than 
Emma so were not strong enough to push 
her off. As far as Emma was concerned 
it was decidedly a change for the better, 
and she was really a very lucky little 
spider. 


95 


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WHAT THE CHICKENS DID 





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CHAPTER I 

JOAN AND THE CANARIES 

1 WONDER if you have ever watched 
young chickens. You can’t help 
liking such babyish, fluffy little things; 
they are so sweet and so different from the 
grown-up hens. I know a little girl who 
cried out, 'Took at all those canaries!” 
Of course, they are not really a bit like 
canaries, and it was only because of their 
yellow coats that she made the mistake. 

Chickens are so lively and cheery, too; 
even when they are only a day old they 
are able to feed themselves, and will run 
about picking up grain. For such babies 
they are quite bold and will wander off 
a long way from the coop, but when any- 
99 


PUPPIES AND KITTENS 


thing alarming comes along they will all 
rush back to Mother Hen, making funny 
little peeping noises showing they are 
rather frightened; and she answers, 
''Tuk, tuk,’’ as much as to say, ^‘You are 
little sillies, but Pm very fond of you,’’ 
and takes them under her wing. 

Joan was the little girl who had called 
them canaries, and you may guess how 
she got teased about it. She had come to 
stay with an aunt who had a farm, and as 
Joan had always lived in a town, she 
couldn’t be expected to know very much 
about animals or birds. She liked the 
cows and the goats and the horses but 
she loved the chickens best of all. When 
she was missing, her aunt always knew 
where to find her, and the chickens seemed 
to know her too and were tamer with her 
than with any one else. 

Several of the hens were sitting on 
their eggs, and Joan was told she mustn’t 
go near them or disturb them at all. 
While a hen is sitting she doesn’t want 
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When anything alarming comes along they will all rush back to Mother Hen. 


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WHAT THE CHICKENS DID 

to be bothered to think of anything else 
except how she can best keep her eggs 
warm and safe. She has to be careful 
and patient till the chicks are ready to 
come out. This is an exciting time, and 
Joan used often to think about it. She 
did wish so she might see a chicken burst 
through its shell. She imagined there 
would be a little tapping sound, and that 
the other chickens would be very inter- 
ested and listen, and then the shell would 
suddenly open and out would spring a 
fluffy yellow chicken. She had been to a 
pantomime once called “Aladdin,” and 
there had been a huge egg, supposed to be 
a Roc’s egg. In the last scene this egg 
was in the middle of the stage. A dancer 
struck it with a wand, when it opened, 
and out sprang a full grown fairy, dressed 
in orange and gold, with a skirt of fluffy 
yellow feathers. Somehow Joan had al- 
ways imagined a chicken would begin its 
life in this dramatic way. 


105 


CHAPTER II 


THE WORM 

A S yet only one small family of chick- 
ens had come out of their eggs but 
they were quite enough for Joan to play 
with. She soon made friends with them 
and gave them all names. There were: 
Honeypot, Darkie, Piggy, Fluffy, Cheeky, 
Dolly and Long-legs. Darkie was rather 
different from the others; he was a lively 
little chick with a dark coat and white 
shirt front. Cheeky was the boldest and 
most impudent. He would cock his little 
head on one side and stare at Joan, and 
he was always the last to run to Mother 
Hen if anything was the matter. 

Joan never forgot the morning Dolly 
found a worm. Instead of keeping quiet, 
the silly chick made such a fuss over it 
to6 



Dolly found a worm 



1 



Cheeky dashing off with the prize. 



WHAT THE CHICKENS DID 

that the others soon found it out. Cheeky 
was on the spot at once, and before slow 
Dolly could say a ''peep’’ he had snatched 
the worm out of her beak and was off. I 
wonder if you have ever seen a chicken 
running with a worm; it really is great 
fun. Joan shouted with delight to see 
that rascal of a Cheeky dashing off with 
the prize while poor foolish Dolly only 
looked on. However, one chick is never 
allowed to have a worm to himself for 
long, and soon Fluffy and Darkie were 
after Cheeky trying hard to get the worm 
for themselves. Round and round they 
ran, into the long grass round the food 
pails, into the corners of the yard and out 
again, till at last poor Cheeky despaired 
of ever being able to eat the worm, there 
never was a second’s time. At last, he 
tried to take a bite, and at once it was 
snatched away from him by Darkie, and 
then the race began again and they all 
rushed about after each other till Fluffy 
got it. He was just going off with it 

III 


PUPPIES AND KITTENS 


when Mr. Cock came along, a very proud 
and dignified gentleman. '^Ah, Ha!’’ he 
cried, “What have we here?” 

“Please, it’s mine,” said Cheeky, “he 
snatched it away from me.” 

The cock looked very surprised, for I 
don’t think any other chick would have 
been bold enough to speak to him at all. 
Every one was rather afraid of him, for 
he had a very sharp beak and would take 
no back answers. 

“It isn’t yours at all 1” cried Darkie and 
Fluffy. “You stole it, you didn’t even find 
it yourself.” 

“Please, don’t make such a noise,” said 
the cock, “I never knew such rowdy, ill- 
behaved chickens, you have no dignity at 
all. Now, so that there shall be no quar- 
rel, I am going to remove the cause,” and 
he stooped down and gobbled up the 
worm. 

This is really what happened ; it is quite 
true for Joan saw it all. I am not quite 

II2 



Made them take some grain out of her hand. 



WHAT THE CHICKENS DID 


so sure that the cock actually used these 
words because, you see, Joan couldn’t un- 
derstand his language, but she thought he 
said something very like it. 


CHAPTER III 


JOAN SAVES A CHICKEN’s LIFE 

1 WONDER if you have ever seen a 
hen feed her chickens. It is a pretty 
sight. She scratches on the ground, and 
when she finds something to eat, she calls 
her children. ^'Tuk, tuk, tuk,’’ she cries, 
and all the little chicks come scurrying 
up, for they understand quite well what 
she means, and are always ready for 
something more to eat. They peep out 
all sorts of pleased things in chicken lan- 
guage, and each tries to push the others 
away to get most for himself. 

Joan loved to see them, and she used 
to imitate the old hen and call the chickens 
and give them some chopped egg. They 
liked this and got so tame that they would 
eat out of her hand. Joan’s aunt was 
ii6 


WHAT THE CHICKENS DID 


quite surprised, and one day she made 
them take some grain out of her hand. 
Cheeky jumped on to her thumb, and 
Piggy and Fluffy lost no time in getting 
to their dinner. The other three were not 
quite so trustful. Honeypot looked up in 
her face as much as to say, 'T know Joan, 
she’s a friend, but Pm not quite so sure 
about you.” The others, too, were a lit- 
tle undecided and hesitated for a time, so 
Joan felt the chickens were really sensible 
enough to know her, after all. 

The chickens were so pretty and at- 
tractive that Joan wanted them to be like 
real people, and she thought of all sorts 
of ideas which she pretended they were 
thinking. But even she had to own they 
were not very original. If one did a 
thing, they would all do it. Their favor- 
ite game was certainly 'Tollow-my-lead- 
er.” One would run into a corner and 
scratch, and at once the others would run 
and scratch, too. Then they would all run 
to the gate, and if anything came along 
117 


PUPPIES AND KITTENS 


there would be a quick scamper back to 
mother and not one would be left behind. 

Joan watched them once playing 'Tol- 
low-my-leader’’ round a barn door. It 
was standing wide open and Fluffy ran 
behind it and poked his head through the 
crack, just below the hinge. It was not a 
big space, but Fluffy could just squeeze 
his neck through. Of course, the others 
must follow his lead and try and do the 
same; and all would have been well if only 
Piggy’s head had been the same size as 
the others. I expect it was because he 
had eaten rather more than the rest that 
his head was just a tiny bit bigger. When 
it came to his turn, he pushed hard to get 
his head through, as all the others had 
done, but when he tried to pull it back, 
it stuck. It was terrible; there he was 
held as if he were in a trap. Oh, what a 
noise he made! Joan heard his shrill 
frightened peeping and thought at least 
he must be nearly killed. She came run- 
ning up and was very alarmed when she 
ii8 


WHAT THE CHICKENS DID 

saw what was the matter. But she was a 
sensible child, and instead of running 
away to call some one, she squeezed in 
behind the door, being very careful not to 
push it to, as that would have choked the 
poor little chick. Then she firmly took 
hold of Piggy, and putting two fingers 
through the crack she gently pushed the 
fluffy littfe head back through it and 
pulled the chicken out of danger. Just as 
she had put him on the ground and he 
had given another loud peep to show there 
was no harm done, the old hen came run- 
ning up clucking in such an excited man- 
ner as much as to say, “it doesn’t do to 
leave these babies one minute, they are 
bound to get into mischief.” She had 
heard her chick crying and had hurried 
up to see what she could do. I wonder 
what she would have done to help. Some- 
thing I feel sure, for it is wonderful how 
clever mother animals and birds can be 
when it is a case of taking care of their 
young. 

119 


PUPPIES AND KITTENS 


Joan told her she had better lead her 
little family further away from such a 
danger trap, and to help her Joan called 
the chickens to the other end of the yard, 
and when they came running up, there on 
the ground lay a nice long worm she had 
found for them, and she took care that 
each had a bit. 


120 



It is very funny to see chickens drink 






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CHAPTER IV 


THIRSTY CHICKENS 

I T is very funny to see chickens drink. 

If you have ever watched them you 
must have noticed how they dive their 
beaks into the water and then quickly 
hold up their heads. They do this to let 
the water run down their throats for, 
you see, their mouths cannot shut up 
tightly and keep the water in like yours. 

One morning all the chicks felt very 
thirsty. I expect eating worms makes 
you thirsty, and I am sure running about 
with a worm and never getting the chance 
to eat it must make you thirstier still. 
So first one and then all the rest ran to 
their saucer of water. Honeypot ran her 
beak along the water before holding up 
her head to swallow it. Of course, the 
123 


PUPPIES AND KITTENS 


others must imitate her and do the same 
When Cheeky came up, of course, he tried 
to do it too, but there was very little room, 
the other chicks had got the best places 
and they crowded him. Honeypot pushed 
hard against him on one side and Fluffy 
bumped into him on the other, so that he 
kept losing the water he had collected in 
his beak to drink. 

^^This is a silly game,” he said. ‘‘Can’t 
you let me get a drink ?” 

The others pretended they hadn’t 
heard, and kept on bobbing their little 
heads up and down and took no notice 
at all. Dolly, whose worm he had taken, 
was rather pleased to annoy him and gave 
Fluffy a sly push so that he bumped into 
Cheeky and nearly upset him. 

“Well, you are rude!” cried Cheeky. “I 
never saw such ill-mannered chicks.” 

“Who are you to talk about manners?” 
said Fluffy, while the others stopped 
drinking to listen. “Who took Dolly’s 
worm?” 


124 


WHAT THE CHICKENS DID 


‘'And what business is that of yours?’' 
cried Cheeky, getting in a temper and 
flapping his stumpy little wings. 

“Take care or you’ll get a peck!” Fluffy 
shouted with a threatening poke of his 
head. It was quite a desperate quarrel, 
but if you had been listening all you would 
have heard was “Peep, peep, peep,” a 
great many times over. 


CHAPTER V 


THE FIGHT 

Y OU know, I expect, that cocks are 
given to fighting; that is why you 
seldom see two cocks in the same run. 
The hens are different and live together 
very happily ; they are too busy with their 
eggs and looking after their baby chick- 
ens to be quarrelsome. But Fluffy and 
Cheeky were going to grow up cocks 
which probably made them more inclined 
to quarrel. Joan thought, perhaps, they 
still bore each other a grudge over the 
worm which neither of them had been able 
to enjoy. So what began as a quarrel 
ended in a regular fight. Weren’t they 
naughty chickens? Cheeky and Fluffy 
grew so fierce and angry with each other 
that they began to fight like grown-up 
126 




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WHAT THE CHICKENS DID 


cocks. They tried to fly up and pounce 
down on each other, but their little wings 
were too short and weak and they could 
only give little hops. They pecked and 
jumped and peeped loudly while the other 
chickens stood round looking on, for they 
had never seen such a fight before. 
Cheeky gave one fly up and came down on 
Fluffy, giving him a really hard peck full 
on his little breast, when he fell over and 
lay quite still just as if he were dead. 

I should like to be able to tell you that, 
when Cheeky saw what he had done he 
was desperately sorry because he had not 
meant to hurt Fluffy like that. If he had 
been a child he would have been terribly 
sad and ashamed of himself, I am sure, 
but chickens are different. In spite of 
Joan’s ideas of them they haven’t really 
much feeling and very little intelligence, 
and so Cheeky just strutted off and didn’t 
seem to care a bit. He even began scratch- 
ing the ground as if the fight had given 
him an appetite and he was looking for 
129 


WHAT THE CHICKENS DID 


another worm. The others, too, were 
quite happy and busy, and took no more 
notice of poor Fluffy lying in a little heap 
on the ground. 


130 



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CHAPTER VI 


fluffy’s recovery 

1 DON’T think this fight would have 
happened if the mother hen had been 
about, but through some mistake she had 
been shut up for an hour with some other 
hens who were not mothers. It was Joan 
again who came to see what was the mat- 
ter. She was just too late to save poor 
Flufify, and was heart-broken when she 
saw him lying on the ground so limp and 
still just as if he were dead. “Oh, you 
wicked chickens!” she cried, “what have 
you done to poor Fluffy ?” Cheeky cocked 
his little head on one side as if he knew 
nothing at all about it, and the other 
chickens wandered off as if their brother 
who had got the worst of the fight was no 
business of theirs. 

133 


PUPPIES AND KITTENS 


^What horrid, cold-blooded little 
things,’^ thought Joan, ^^how could they be 
so unkind?” But it is no good giving 
chickens credit for tender hearts and 
clever brains, for if you do you will be 
disappointed. And it will not be the 
chickens’ fault, for they can’t help it. 
Joan found this out after a time and she 
loved them for what they were and didn’t 
expect too much. 

Very gently Joan picked Fluffy up and 
was glad to feel he was still warm. She 
carried him carefully to the kitchen where 
cook gave her a cosy little basket with a 
piece of flannel. She laid him on this and 
put him near the kitchen fire. Her aunt 
looked grave when she saw his limp little 
body, for she thought he was dead, but 
she let Joan do as she liked. 

Poor Fluffy lay still so long that Joan 
grew tired of watching him and went off 
to see the cows milked. When she came 
in to tea she rushed first of all into the 
kitchen to see if he had moved. He cer- 

134 


WHAT THE CHICKENS DID 


tainly looked better, less limp and even a 
little fatter, and actually his eyes were 
open. Joan was delighted, and while she 
was looking at him he opened his beak 
and gave a kind of gape. ‘'Oh, auntie!'' 
Joan called out, “Fluffy's alive, and I be- 
lieve he wants something to eat." Wasn't 
it splendid? The warmth of the kitchen 
fire had revived him. After Joan had fed 
him with a little warm food he was able 
to get up and walk about. She liked hav- 
ing him to herself like that, but when bed- 
time came and the other chicks went 
under their mother's wing she took him 
back and he ran in and settled down. I 
expect he made up his mind it would be a 
long time before he would have another 
fight. 


CHAPTER VII 


HATCHING OUT 

H atching out is an exciting time. 

The hen has to sit on the eggs and 
keep them warm and quiet for three 
whole weeks. It needs a lot of patience, 
doesn’t it? Joan knew there were some 
eggs due to hatch out very soon and she 
did wish she might see them. She knew 
it was really impossible though because 
the hen must be left alone then and not 
disturbed at all. 

Joan was very fond of animals and al- 
ways wanted to do the kindest thing for 
them ; she was a nice child altogether, and 
tried to help her aunt with the farm. She 
was having such a good time and thor- 
oughly enjoying her holidays. Her cousin 
Lulu had spent her holidays there too and 
136 


WHAT THE CHICKENS DID 


been rather naughty, so Joan’s aunt told 
her. It seems Lulu had been asked not 
to go near, or in any way disturb, the hens 
that were sitting on their eggs, and had 
promised faithfully not to do so. You 
may guess the kind of child Lulu was 
when I tell you she broke her promise. 

There was a speckled hen who was a 
very good mother and had brought up 
ever so many families, and when Lulu 
was there her eggs were due to hatch 
out very soon. They were not the eggs 
she had laid herself but some very spe- 
cial ones. When they were hatching out 
that naughty Lulu went to look. She sim- 
ply didn’t bother about her promise and 
even pulled one of the eggs out from 
under the hen to see if it was already 
broken. The speckled hen was furious 
and terribly flurried; she had never been 
interfered with before and took it very 
much amiss. She didn’t mean to hurt her 
babies, of course, but she got so worried 
and nervous that she was not careful 

137 


PUPPIES AND KITTENS 


enough where she put her feet down and 
killed five of them. In her excitement 
she had trampled on them and the poor 
little things had scarcely lived at all. Of 
course, Lulu was very sorry, but that 
didn’t mend her promise nor bring the 
chickens back to life. 

Joan was delighted when her aunt told 
her she might have a chance of seeing 
some hatching out. There were some 
eggs in the incubator which were due out 
very soon. An incubator is a sort of com- 
fortable box which keeps the eggs as safe 
and warm as a mother hen, so that they 
come out in three weeks just as if a hen 
were looking after them. Only an incu- 
bator, not being alive, wouldn’t get flur- 
ried or excited at any one looking on. 
Joan was told there were eggs in it which 
were due to turn into chickens on Thurs- 
day or Friday. 

On Wednesday Joan kept running to 
look, on Thursday she still haunted the 
place, but on Friday she began to get a 

138 



One had still a bit of shell sticking to his back 




TV 

iV. 



WHAT THE CHICKENS DID 


little tired of nothing happening. In the 
afternoon she was having a game with 
Cheeky, Fluffy and Co. when she was 
called in to see a pretty sight. Some 
chickens had just come out, and one had 
still a bit of shell sticking to his back. 
He was looking at the rest of it in such 
a comical way as if he were asking how 
he had ever been cramped up in such a 
little space. They were darling little 
chicks, and Joan was soon busy giving 
them names. She always loved them and 
often played with them, but somehow they 
never seemed quite as clever nor as hu- 
man as her first friends. 



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Salome 




THE PERSIAN KITTENS AND 
THEIR FRIENDS 


CHAPTER I 

TOMPKINS AND MINETTE 

1 WANT to tell you about two little 
Persian kittens called Tompkins and 
Minette. They were the prettiest you 
have ever seen with their long fluffy fur, 
their small ears and little impudent 
stumpy noses. They looked such inno- 
cent darlings, you felt you must kiss 
them, but like most kittens, they dearly 
loved a little fun, and as for mischief — - 
well, you shall hear all about them. 

Their mother was a very handsome 
Persian cat Salome, with a proud walk 
and very dignified ways. She had four 
kittens, but two had been given away and, 
145 


PUPPIES AND KITTENS 


to tell the truth, Tompkins and Mifiette 
were not altogether sorry. Four kittens 
and a big fluffy mother take up a lot of 
room in a basket, and theirs seemed get- 
ting to be a tighter fit every day. 

'We shan’t be quite so crowded now,” 
remarked Minette with a yawn after the 
others had gone away. 

"And we shall have all the more to 
eat,” said Tompkins. 

"Our mother will love us more, too,” 
purred Minette. 

"The only bother is: she’ll have more 
time to wash our faces,” said Tompkins. 
So when Mary, their tender-hearted lit- 
tle mistress pitied them saying, "Poor 
darlings ! how they will miss the others !” 
Tompkins and Minette were saying in cat 
language, "Not a bit of it.” 

Besides, two kittens are quite enough 
for a game, especially such rascals as 
Tompkins and Minette. 

Tompkins loved anything in the shape 
of a ball, and as there was a good deal of 
146 








i he two kittens arched their backs. 






4 



THE PERSIAN KITTENS 

knitting going on in the house there were 
several balls in sight. The grown-ups, 
however, were careful with theirs; they 
knew kittens, but Mary, who was only 
eight and had just begun to knit, seemed 
the most hopeful, and it was her ball the 
kittens watched. Her wool was thick, and 
the scarf she was making never seemed to 
get beyond the third row, so there was al- 
ways a nice fat ball of it. 

^‘It does look nice and soft,’’ said Mi- 
nette looking at it. 

‘^And wouldn’t it roll finely,” said 
Tompkins. 

One day Mary tried to knit, but her 
hands got so sticky that the stitches kept 
dropping off the needles. She got very 
hot and cross. “Bother, bother, bother!” 
she cried at last and flung the knitting 
down and rushed off into the garden. 

The ball of wool was still on the table, 
but as the knitting was on the floor you 
may guess it didn’t take those kittens long 
to pull it down. It bounced off the table 
149 


PUPPIES AND KITTENS 

and came rolling towards them. It really 
looked almost like some live animal com- 
ing at them, and the two kittens arched 
their backs and looked quite fierce. When 
it stopped Tompkins said to Minette, 
''What a silly to be frightened of a ball 
of wool,’^ and Minette answered, ‘'You 
were frightened, I was only pretending.’’ 
But this argument didn’t last long for 
there was the lovely fluffy ball on the 
ground waiting to be played with. Tomp- 
kins snatched it first and patted it round 
a chair. Then Minette tried to bite it, and 
when it rolled away they were like boys 
after a football, and it was sent all over 
the room and twisted round each leg of 
the table. 

You see, all cats love pretending even 
when they are quite babies, so Tompkins 
and Minette pretended to be grown-up 
cats chasing a mouse until that bold 
Tompkins suggested, "It’s really too big 
for a mouse, let’s call it a rat.” And they 
grew quite fierce as they hunted it, giving 
ISO 


THE PERSIAN KITTENS 

savage miaous and growls just like big cats. 
But after a little the rat seemed to shrink 
into a mouse and the mouse into nothing 
at all for the wool had all come unwound. 

It never does to give way to temper, 
does it? and when Mary returned she was 
to find it out. She came back and brought 
her mother to help her with the knitting, 
and pick up all her stitches for her. They 
found two tired little kittens with sweet 
faces and big innocent eyes, and the wool 
in a perfectly hopeless tangle all over the 
room. 

‘What did Mary’s mother say?” you 
ask. I am afraid she laughed. I know 
she didn’t blame the kittens, and Mary 
had to get her wool out of a tangle and 
wind it up herself. Not for very long 
though, because when her mother thought 
she had suffered enough for her temper 
and carelessness she helped her and they 
soon got it finished. Mary gave the kit- 
tens a good scolding, calling them “nasty, 
mean mischievous little things.” 
ifii 


CHAPTER II 


TWO THIEVES 

1 AM afraid Tompkins was rather in- 
clined to be greedy. He used to 
watch his mother Salome having her aft- 
ernoon saucer of milk and he just longed 
to have some too. It looked so nice and 
creamy and he was so tired of his own 
food. He used to watch her lapping it 
and wish somehow he could get it instead. 

One day the milk was put down as 
usual, but Salome didn’t hurry to go to 
it. The fact was she had come in from 
the garden, and as she sat on the window- 
seat, she discovered her paws were rather 
damp and dirty. She was a fussy and 
particular cat who thought a great deal 
of appearance, and she was very busy 
licking her paws soft and velvety again 

152 





THE PERSIAN KITTENS 


before having her tea. Now was Tomp- 
kins’ chance. He watched his mother 
very carefully and then stole quietly up 
to the saucer. But Minette had seen him 
and she didn’t mean to be left behind, so 
soon there were two little heads very busy 
with the saucer. They lapped so quietly 
that no one noticed them, and it was not 
till their mother had finished her wash 
and jumped down to have her milk that 
she saw what had happened. And by then 
the milk was nearly all gone. 

What did their mother do? 

I know what she ought to have done. 
Scolded them well and given them a lit- 
tle scratch, but cats are very funny and 
not a bit like people or dogs. Salome just 
pretended she didn’t care a bit. She made 
out she wasn’t thirsty and never mewed 
for any more milk. She jumped on to the 
window seat again and stared out of the 
window, and the naughty little kittens 
thought themselves very clever indeed. 


ISS 


CHAPTER III 


MINETTE FINDS THE KITCHEN 

O NE day Minette smelt a nice fishy 
smell. It tempted her out of the 
room, down a passage and round a cor- 
ner till she arrived at the kitchen. Here 
she came face to face with a strange cat. 
The cook was just making fish cakes, and 
Tibby the kitchen cat was asking for 
some with loud miaous. Minette was 
very alarmed at first, she thought this 
strange cat might scratch her, but Tibby 
was much too busy to take any notice of 
a little kitten and kept miaouing and star- 
ing up at the fish. Minette thought she 
would rather like to try a little, it cer- 
tainly smelt very tempting. At last a 
scrap fell on the floor. Of course Minette 
rushed at it. But, oh, dear! how she 

156 



Tibby was much too busy to take any notice of a little kitten. 



THE PERSIAN KITTENS 

wished she hadn’t! There was such a 
noise; Tibby flew at her with a nasty 
spiteful swear, growled at her, snatched 
the fish away and ate it up herself. Poor 
Minette felt so hurt and surprised, it 
wasn’t a bit how her dignified mother 
would have behaved. 

The cook was not at all nice either, for 
instead of pitying Minette and giving 
her a tit-bit of fish as Mary would have 
done, she said,''Get out of my way,” and 
shooed her out of the kitchen. 

It was a very subdued and sad little 
kitten that trotted back round the corner 
and along the passage, and to tell the 
truth, Minette was not at all sorry to get 
back to her own cosy little basket and 
home where no one was unkind to her. 

Still though not very successful, this 
had been an adventure and Minette pre- 
tended to Tompkins she had had a per- 
fectly lovely time. 

'This is a dull old room,” she told him, 
"the kitchen is much finer. It is beauti- 

159 


PUPPIES AND KITTENS 


fully warm for there is a great big fire, 
and there are heaps of saucers and plates, 
and such delicious smells/' 

''Did you get anything to eat?" asked 
Tompkins. 

"Well, just a taste of fish," Minette re- 
plied, enjoying the envious look on Tomp- 
kins’ face. 

"Did you see any one there?" he asked 
next. 

"Yes, a very grand cat, so beautiful and 
sleek, she was very kind to me and asked 
me to come again." (Oh, Minette! what 
terrible stories !) 

Poor Tompkins was so jealous he could 
have cried, and when Minette sat purring 
in the basket with such a superior look on 
her face, he felt he could have scratched 
her. 

"Never mind," he told himself, "it will 
be my turn next." 


i6o 


CHAPTER IV 


THE KITCHEN KITTENS 

H IS chance came that same after- 
noon. Minette, tired out with her 
exciting adventure and with all the stories 
she had told about it, was having a sound 
sleep, no one was about and the door was 
open. Tompkins crept through it and 
down the passage. He was making for 
the kitchen but on the way he heard a 
strange noise. It came from a little room 
next to the kitchen and it made his little 
heart beat and his tail swell out to twice 
its size. This curious sound was just the 
kind of noise that kittens make when they 
are in the middle of a furious game. 
Tompkins listened outside the door. ‘'Oh,’' 
he thought, “if I could only get in and join 
them ! what fun it would be, and what an 
i6i 


PUPPIES AND KITTENS 


adventure to tell Minette!” and he gave 
a little plaintive miaou just near the crack 
of the door. There was a silence for a 
second, then he heard scratchings inside 
and a voice called out in cat language, 
''You push hard and we’ll pull, the door 
isn’t fastened.” So Tompkins squeezed 
hard against the door, and at last there 
was a crack just big enough for him to 
creep through. 

Inside Tompkins saw, to his delight, 
three small kittens. They were about his 
own age too, and had got hold of the 
waste-paper basket with which they were 
having a splendid game. Next to a ball, 
I believe, kittens love nice rustling paper, 
and they were tearing and rumpling these 
to their hearts’ content. 

Tompkins was a little shy at first, but 
he soon felt at home with the strange kit- 
tens and tore the paper as fiercely as the 
others. The basket, too, seemed made to 
be played with. They pretended it was a 
cage, and one of the kittens got inside and 
162 



They had got hold of the waste-paper basket. 



THE PERSIAN KITTENS 


growled so fiercely like a wild beast that 
Tompkins was almost afraid. At last, 
when it was upside down and the papers 
scattered all over the room the kittens 
began to think they would like a little rest. 

They all stared at each other for a bit 
till Tompkins thought it was time some 
one made a little conversation. 

‘What are your names ?” he asked. 

The kittens looked rather confused and 
didn’t know what to answer, for somehow 
no one had thought of christening them. 
However, they were not going to let a 
stranger know this, so the prettiest said, 
‘T am generally called ‘Pussy,’ and this” 
— here she pointed to the kitten next to 
her — “is ‘Pet.’ Her real name is Perfect- 
Pet, but we call her Pet for short.” 

“And what is your name?” Tompkins 
asked the third kitten. He, however, pre- 
tended not to hear and busied himself 
running after his own tail, which he 
caught so unexpectedly that it made him 
sit down with a bump. 

i6s 


PUPPIES AND KITTENS 


‘T can tell you his name/’ cried Pussy; 
^^he has been called 'Ugly/ and I think it 
rather suits him, don’t you ?” 

Tompkins was too polite to say how 
heartily he agreed for it would have been 
hard to find a plainer kitten. 

‘Tt was cook who called me that,” said 
Ugly quite cheerfully; “she said I looked 
scraggy as if I wanted feeding up, so I 
hope she’ll see it’s done.” 


i66 


CHAPTER V 


A SURPRISING CONVERSATION 

W HO’S your mother?” Pet asked 
Tompkins. 

“She is Salome, a beautiful gray Per- 
sian,” and as Tompkins answered he no- 
ticed the three kittens looked rather 
merry. 

“Do you mean that stuck-up silly old 
flufif-pot?” said Ugly. “We often watch 
her stalking about the garden, giving her- 
self airs.” 

“And looking just as if she wore petti- 
coats,” Pussy joined in. 

“What a dull mother to have !” remark- 
ed Pet. “Not^much fun to be got out of 
her, I should think.” 

Tompkins was thunderstruck. He had 
never been used to hearing his dignified 
167 


PUPPIES AND KITTENS 


mother spoken of like this, and thought 
the kittens were very rude. ‘'My mother 
is very beautiful and very valuable,’’ he 
said indignantly; “besides, she is a nice 
warm fluffy mother to go to sleep with.” 

“Maybe,” said Ugly, “but we shouldn’t 
care to change with you. Our mother 
Tibby is the right sort. She never for- 
gets us and isn’t above stealing a little 
now and then, and if it’s too big for her 
she lets us help eat it.” 

“And look what a sportsman she is!” 
said Pussy. “You should see her after a 
mouse. And once, she told us she almost 
caught a rat.” 

“I should like to see your old fluff-pot 
of a mother running after a mouse,” 
laughed Ugly. “I am sure she would be 
much too ladylike to catch it.” 

“Why, she would have to pick up her 
petticoats,” said Pet, and then they all 
three roared with laughter. 

What bad manners they had, thought 
Tompkins and he felt furious with them. 

i68 


THE PERSIAN KITTENS 


He wouldn’t play with them any more, 
and with his head up and his tail fluffed 
out he walked away, looking very like his 
mother when she was offended. 

But Pussy, who was a kind hearted kit- 
ten and didn’t like to see him hurt, ran 
after him and said, “Please, don’t go, we 
were only in fun. Come back and tell us 
more about your mother, Pm sure she 
has her points, and anyhow I don’t expect 
she boxes your ears like Jane does ours.” 

Tompkins was surprised. “Does she 
really?” he asked, for he had never heard 
of such a thing. 

“Indeed, she does, with her claws out, 
too, sometimes,” said Pet. 

“Yes, she nearly spoilt my beauty,” said 
Ugly with a grin; “she gave me a horrid 
scratch over the eye.” 

As the kittens had given up teasing and 
seemed rather nice again, Tompkins set- 
tled down and told them how nice and 
sweet-tempered his mother was and that 
she was so admired that people always 
169 


PUPPIES AND KITTENS 


wanted to photograph her. 'Tn fact/’ he 
said, being just a little inclined to show 
off, ^'she got so used to the camera that 
she once tried to take a photograph her- 
self and got my sister Minette to sit for 
her.” 

'Whatever is a camera?” the kittens 
asked astounded. 

'T am afraid I can’t very well explain 
just now,” replied Tompkins who didn’t 
know himself, "as it’s time I said 'Good- 
by,’ ” and he trotted off home. 


170 



Tried to take a photograph. 






A perfect bunch of bad temper. 





CHAPTER VI 


THE RETURN VISIT 

W HEN Tompkins got back, how- 
ever, Salome was looking any- 
thing but beautiful. In fact she was look- 
ing as ugly and disagreeable a cat as you 
can imagine. You see, she wanted brush- 
ing very badly and she simply hated it. 
As soon as she saw her own special brush 
and comb being brought out, she would 
hump herself up with her ears back, and 
look a perfect bunch of bad temper. This 
time she was worse than usual, for her 
long fur had got tangled, and as the comb 
pulled, she turned round and spat at it. 

Tompkins and Minette looked on trem- 
blingly; they had never seen their mother 
in such a rage. Tompkins was glad the 
kitchen kittens couldn’t see the mother he 

175 


PUPPIES AND KITTENS 


had boasted about; how they would have 
jeered. 

When all was over, Salome flounced 
back into the basket and curled herself 
up to forget her annoyances in sleep, and 
her children took care not to disturb her. 
They whispered together and Tompkins 
told Minette all about the kitchen kittens. 
Minette was so excited she forgot to be 
jealous and kept interrupting with: ‘^Oh, 
can’t I see them too?” and ‘'What fun we 
might all have together ! Couldn’t we ask 
them to come here?” 

“Wait till we are quite alone,” whis- 
pered Tompkins, “and then we will invite 
them properly to tea.” 

“How lovely!” said Minette, but she 
couldn’t help wondering where the tea 
was to come from. 

The very next day the chance came, 
for the door was left open, no one was 
about, and actually there was a tea tray 
on the table. 

Tompkins went to the door and mewed; 
176 





Hunt the Thimble. 




M 



THE PERSIAN KITTENS 


at least you would have thought he was 
only mewing but really he was calling, 
^'Come, come, come,’^ and the little 
kitchen kittens, right the other end of the 
passage, heard him. They mewed back, 
telling him they wanted to come badly 
but their door was shut and they couldn’t 
get out. “Well, come as soon as you can,” 
he called back. 

They didn’t have to wait long, for very 
soon the cook came in and out again in 
such a hurry that she forgot to shut the 
door. You may guess the kittens didn’t 
wait long, and they were out like lightning 
and racing down the passage. You would 
have laughed to see them come tumbling 
into the room where the Persians lived, a 
perfect bundle of mischief. 

They weren’t a bit shy and Minette 
loved them; she thought they were such 
fun and so clever and bright. Ugly and 
Pussy soon started a game of “Hunt the 
Thimble,” and Minette thoroughly en- 
joyed it. First of all they found a work- 
179 


PUPPIES AND KITTENS 


basket, then they knocked it on the floor 
and made hay of its contents till they 
found that little shiny silver thing that is 
so good at rolling. They chased the thim- 
ble all over the room till it disappeared be- 
hind a solid bookcase, and I shouldn’t be 
surprised if it isn’t there still. 

Minette had never had quite such an 
exciting time, and she wondered why 
Tompkins wasn’t enjoying it too. She 
looked round for him, but he seemed to 
have disappeared. At last she heard a 
little ''miaou,” and there he was right up 
one of the curtains. Pet was up the other 
curtain and they kept calling to each 
other, "Look at me ! I’m highest !” There 
was no doubt that Pet was beating him, 
for she was near the ceiling, but they were 
both digging in their little claws and pull- 
ing themselves up. After watching such 
daring sport as this, "Hunt the Thimble” 
seemed very tame, so the other three 
joined the mountaineers, and soon there 
were five kittens tearing and scratching at 
the curtains trying to climb. 

i8o 


CHAPTER VII 


THE visitors’ TEA 

W HEN Ugly had got a good way up, 
he looked down and saw the tea 
tray. “I know a better game than this!” 
he cried and got down as quickly as he 
could. ''All this exercise makes me 
thirsty, and I spy some milk.” 

"Hurrah, for a feed!” cried Pussy and 
Pet, and they too struggled down. Pussy 
fell the last bit of the way, but it didn’t 
seem to hurt her and she was soon on the 
table with the others. 

They were all a little disappointed, how- 
ever, for the tray was not as good as it 
promised. All they could get at was the 
sugar, and kittens don’t care a bit for 
that. The milk seemed out of their reach 
for the jug it was in was so small that 
i8i 


THE PERSIAN KITTENS 


not even Ugly could get his lean head into 
it. Pet was feeling very sad, for she did 
so love milk, and there seemed no way of 
getting any. However, Pussy had a splen- 
did idea: she pushed the jug over with 
her paw and out ran the milk on the tray 
and all the kittens had to do was to lap 
it up. 

'^And why didn’t Tompkins and Mi- 
nette come and have some milk, too?” you 
ask, and I should like to be able to tell 
you it was because they were such su- 
perior, well-brought-up and honest little 
kittens that they scorned the idea of steal- 
ing, but I am afraid this wouldn’t be true. 
No, the reason the two little Persians 
didn’t come to share the milk with the 
kitchen kittens was because they were still 
up the curtains. 

It was not very difficult for them to 
climb up, but coming down was quite an- 
other thing. When they looked down it 
frightened them and they were so afraid 
of falling that they didn’t like letting go 



4 


She pushed the jug over with her paw. 





PUPPIES AND KITTENS 


to dig their claws in a fresh place lower 
down. So there they hung, crying piti- 
fully, ‘‘Help, help, help,” which sounded 
like “Miaou, miaou, miaou.” 


185 


CHAPTER VIII 


SALOME TO THE RESCUE 

1 DON’T know what would have hap- 
pened if no one had heard them, for 
the little kitchen kittens were very busy 
with the milk, and even if they had want- 
ed to, they wouldn’t have known how to 
help. But a mother’s ears are sharp, and 
before they had mewed ten times Salome 
appeared at a trot, asking anxiously, 
‘What have those tiresome children of 
mine done now?” She soon saw the dan- 
ger they had got into. If they had been 
more of babies, she would have climbed 
up after them and brought them down in 
her mouth, but they were too big and 
heavy for that. All she could do was to 
sit at the bottom of the curtain and give 
them courage by mewing and telling them 
i86 


PUPPIES AND KITTENS 

what to do. It was funny how quickly 
their confidence came back. Directly the 
kittens knew their own mother was there 
watching them and ready to help, they 
forgot to be afraid and in a few seconds 
they had scratched their way down the 
curtain and were safely on the ground. 

Salome didn't make a fuss or punish 
them for being so naughty and wild; all 
she did was to give their faces a lick and 
tell them not to do it again or they might 
hurt their claws or have a tumble. 

The little kitchen cats looked on and 
they thought what a good mother Salome 
was, for not even their Jane could have 
been kinder. They had to own, too, that 
she was rather beautiful and so quiet and 
self-possessed. Besides, she behaved so 
well to them and instead of chasing them 
away because they were strangers, like 
Jane would have done, she took no notice 
of them at all. She did not even seem to 
mind when Pussy pretended to be her 
daughter and sat close up to her. 

187 


PUPPIES AND KITTENS 


'We were wrong/’ said Pet to Tomp- 
kins later. 'T think your mother is an 
old dear.” And although Tompkins 
thought it might have been expressed dif- 
ferently, he was glad to hear it. 


i88 


CHAPTER IX 


MISJUDGED KITTENS 

M iaou, miaou, miaou,'' was heard 
in the distance. 

''What an ugly, hoarse voice !" re- 
marked Minette. 

"Just like a croak," said Tompkins. "I 
wonder who it can be." 

But the little kitchen kittens didn't won- 
der, they knew it was their old mother, 
Tibby, who had missed her babies and was 
calling for them. They liked her ugly 
voice and they answered with little mews, 
and one by one they scuttled out of the 
room. Ugly was the last to go and he 
just lapped up a drop of milk on his way, 
for he never neglected an opportunity. 

A few minutes after, the cook came in 
to find Mary's mother, and of course, 
189 


THE PERSIAN KITTENS 


caught sight at once of the disgraceful 
looking tray. She was shocked to see it 
in such a state, with the sugar scattered 
about and a nasty sticky mess where the 
milk had been lapped up. 

''Oh dear! Oh dear!’’ she cried, try- 
ing to tidy up, "whoever has done this?’' 

"Miaou, miaou,” said Tompkins, which 
meant "not us.” 

Cook turned round and saw the kittens. 
"Well, of all the impudent little thieves!” 
she cried, "so you must go and steal the 
milk, must you? You little good-for- 
nothings !” 

"No, really it wasn’t us,” mewed Mi- 
nette. 

But, of course, cook couldn’t under- 
stand cat language and she went on scold- 
ing. "You deserve a good whipping, that 
you do, and I’ve a great mind to give it 
you, greedy little things, when you get 
as much to eat as ever you can swallow.” 

Both kittens looked up at her with their 
190 



Pussy pretended to be her daughter 





You may look like little angels, but you are nothing but little imps of mischief. 


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PUPPIES AND KITTENS 


sweetest expressions, trying to convince 
her how innocent they were. 

‘‘Oh, I know all about that,’’ cook went 
on, but already her scolding was getting 
more into a smiling one, “you may look 
little angels but you’re nothing but little 
imps of mischief.” 

“Miaou, miaou,” said Minette in her 
sweetest voice, and Tompkins gave a 
plaintive little purr, for they were getting 
very sleepy after their exciting adven- 
ture. This was too much for cook; they 
both looked such darlings that before they 
could drop off to sleep she was down on 
her knees petting them and calling them 
her “saucy little poppets.” 


I9S 


CHAPTER X 


SALOME GIVES A LECTURE 

T he kittens were the first to wake up 
the next morning. They couldn’t 
resist talking about the kitchen kittens, 
there was so much to say. Salome went 
on pretending to be asleep. 

“They were such jolly playfellows,” 
Tompkins remarked. 

“I wish we knew such exciting games,” 
sighed Minette, “ours will seem so tame 
now.” 

“We’ll manage to see them again, 
somehow,” suggested Tompkins. 

“They very nearly got us into trouble 
over the milk, though,” said Minette. Sa- 
lome gave a big gape. “Be quiet and go 
to sleep,” she said and shut her eyes. 

The kittens were silent for a short 
196 



Sauntered grandly out of the room 





PUPPIES AND KITTENS 


time, then they began again. ‘T shall try 
and climb the curtain again,’’ said Mi- 
nette. 'T shan’t,” said Tompkins, 'T shall 
think of some quite new game.” 

Salome woke up again. '‘What are you 
two chatterboxes talking about?” she 
asked. 

"About the kitchen kittens, mother,” 
Minette replied. 

"I don’t wish to be proud,” said Sa- 
lome, "but really you mustn’t associate 
with people like that.” 

"But, mother,” protested Tompkins, 
"the kitchen kittens are so clever.” 

"In what way?” asked Salome. "I 
don’t see anything clever in stealing milk ; 
it is just a common cat’s trick.” 

Tompkins began to feel rather an- 
noyed ; the kitchen kittens were his 
friends and he admired them. He thought 
them so bright and clever, and Salome 
rather unfair. Then a naughty, mis- 
chievous idea came into his head, and 
looking very impudent, he asked his 
199 


THE PERSIAN KITTENS 

mother, ‘'Do you know what they called 
you?’' 

“Oh, Tompkins!” begged Minette, 
“please don't be such a tell-tale.” 

“I shall,” said that naughty Tompkins; 
“I think mother ought to know.” 

“You needn't trouble,” remarked Sa- 
lome haughtily, “it doesn't interest me in 
the very least what those vulgar little kit- 
tens call me.” 

“Still, you had better hear,” persisted 
Tompkins, and before Minette could stop 
him he said, “they called you a ridicu- 
lous old fluff-pot, there!” 

Whatever did Salome say? 

Nothing at all, and if you know any- 
thing of Persian cats you will guess what 
she did. She got up and had a good 
stretch, then she shook out each leg and 
sauntered grandly out of the room. It 
was as if she meant that what the kitchen 
kittens had called her was so unimpor- 
tant that it was not worth thinking or 
saying anything about. 

200 

l 56 


PUPPIES AND KITTENS 


And what did the kittens do? Well, 
I believe Tompkins felt rather small and 
wished he hadn’t spoken. However, they 
were alone in the room now, so it was a 
good opportunity for planning fresh mis- 
chief, and I only wish I had more pages 
in this book that I might tell you all 
about it. 


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